Ultrasound image processing device and method, and computer-readable storage medium

ABSTRACT

An ultrasound image processing device and a method for quantitative analysis of cardiac motion are provided. The device comprises: a display; and a processor configured to: obtain an ultrasound presentation, wherein the ultrasound presentation comprises one of an ultrasound image and an ultrasound video; perform a motion tracking on at least one region of interest according to the ultrasound presentation to obtain a tracking result of the at least one region of interest; determine a tracking quality of the tracking result of the at least one region of interest; and control the display to display the tracking quality of the at least one region of interest, wherein the tracking quality is a confidence of the tracking result of the corresponding region of interest and indicates a credibility of the tracking result of the corresponding region of interest.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to a device, and in particular to an ultrasoundimage processing device, and a ultrasound image processing method usingthe ultrasound image processing device.

BACKGROUND

At present, an ultrasound imaging technology has been widely applied inthe medical field, and has also been widely applied in the diagnosis ofcardiovascular diseases. With the continuous development ofcardiovasology, which is an important branch discipline of clinicalmedicine, methods for diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases, whethernoninvasive or invasive, have constantly emerged and been replaced orimproved. Ultrasound cardiogram is a method developed to diagnosecardiovascular diseases in the 1950s. An ultrasound imaging technologyis a noninvasive imaging technology, which is easy and simple tooperate, has strong repeatability, not only may display anatomicalimages of the heart and large blood vessels, but also may observephysiological activities of the heart and large blood vessels in realtime, providing valuable diagnostic data. Thus, the technology hasattracted much attention of clinicians, and has been continuouslypopularized and applied. Over the past 50 years, the ultrasoundcardiogram technology has developed rapidly, starting from an M-modeultrasound cardiogram to a two-dimensional ultrasound cardiogram, atransesophageal ultrasound cardiogram, etc. Techniques for quantitativeanalysis of cardiac motion have also emerged, including Dopplerultrasound cardiogram technology (TDI) as well as speckle tracking basedon B-ultrasound images, both of which have their own drawbacks.

The Doppler ultrasound cardiogram technology may be used to detect themotion velocity of tissues in the direction of an acoustic beam by usingthe principle of Doppler frequency shift, providing an effective meansfor analysis of cardiac motion. Due to the limitation of Dopplerprinciple, the Doppler ultrasound cardiogram technology cannotaccurately acquire the information of the heart in an imaging plane,such as two-dimensional velocity information, so it is limited inapplication.

The speckle tracking based on B-ultrasound images tracks the motion ofmyocardial tissue by tracking speckles formed by echo signals of thecardiac tissue on the B-ultrasound images, and the technology may obtainthe two-dimensional motion of the cardiac tissue in the imaging planeand may be applied to various sections of heart views.

However, the accuracy of quantitative analysis of cardiac motion basedon speckle tracking is directly affected by tracking accuracy. For thetwo-dimensional ultrasound cardiogram, local signal defects sometimesappear under the influence of imaging conditions such as an acousticwindow, noises and artifacts would seriously affect a trackingalgorithm, resulting in the problem of inaccurate local tracking.Certainly, analysis parameters obtained in this case are not credible.Therefore, the visual and comprehensive evaluation of the trackingquality, that is, the confidence of the analysis parameters, plays acrucial role in a quantitative analysis system, and affects theapplication of this technology in clinical and scientific researchfields to a large extent.

In consequence, although the existing ultrasound imaging technologiesmay qualitatively provide an effective or ineffective judgment of localtracking, only an effective or ineffective qualitative result may beprovided, and an effective or ineffective judgment rule and threshold isinsufficient for a user to control and understand why the result iseffective or ineffective; and the result may be seen only at the time ofcurrent analysis, and a macroscopic connection cannot be convenientlyestablished. For example, regions affected in a complete cardiacstructure, coronary artery conditions corresponding to the structure,etc. are not visually enough, so it is difficult for the user toactually get help from them.

SUMMARY

The disclosure provides an ultrasound image processing device and amethod for quantitative analysis of cardiac motion, which may indicatethe quantified confidence of a tracking result and provide moreobjective evaluation for the tracking result.

In an embodiment, provided is an ultrasound image processing device,comprising: a display; and a processor configured to execute thefollowing steps: an ultrasound presentation is acquired, wherein theultrasound presentation comprises either one of an ultrasound image andan ultrasound video; motion tracking is performed on at least one regionof interest according to the ultrasound presentation to obtain atracking result of the at least one region of interest; a trackingquality of the tracking result of the at least one region of interest isdetermined; and the display is controlled to display the trackingquality of the at least one region of interest, wherein the trackingquality is the confidence of a tracking result of a corresponding regionof interest and indicates the credibility of the tracking result of thecorresponding region of interest.

In an embodiment, the step that “a tracking quality of the trackingresult of the at least one region of interest is determined” comprises:the tracking qualities of a plurality of local sub-regions arerespectively determined according to the plurality of local sub-regionsformed by dividing the region of interest in advance.

In an embodiment, the step that “the display is controlled to displaythe tracking quality of the at least one region of interest” comprises:tracking quality indicators of the local sub-regions are generatedaccording to the tracking qualities of the local sub-regions of theregion of interest; in combination with an anatomical structure of theregion of interest and the plurality of local sub-regions divided inadvance, the tracking quality indicators of the plurality of localsub-regions of the region of interest are arranged in an anatomicalshape of the region of interest in the form of color coding; wherein thetracking quality indicator of each local sub-region corresponds to acolor coded block; and the display is controlled to display the trackingquality indicators arranged in the anatomical shape of the region ofinterest.

In an embodiment, the step that “the display is controlled to displaythe tracking quality of the at least one region of interest” furthercomprises: the display is controlled to display a quality standardreference indicator; and the quality standard reference indicator isprovided to determine the tracking qualities indicated by the trackingquality indicators.

In an embodiment, the ultrasound image processing device furthercomprises an input unit, and the processor is further configured todiscard an analysis result of one or more local sub-regions to bedeleted in response to an action of deleting the local sub-region thatis input by a user through the input unit.

In an embodiment, the processor is further configured to execute thefollowing steps: the display is controlled to generate a prompt messageto prompt the user whether to accept the tracking result; and if theuser selects “Yes”, the display is controlled to display an analysisresult.

In an embodiment, the anatomical shape formed by arranging the trackingquality indicators of the plurality of local sub-regions is a shape of acardiac segmented diagram and/or a shape of a bull's eye plot.

In an embodiment, the processor is further configured to execute thefollowing steps: the parts of the anatomical shape corresponding to theselected local sub-regions are highlighted in response to localsub-regions of a target region of interest selected by a user.

In an embodiment, the tracking result includes at least a quantitativeparameter of myocardial motion.

In an embodiment, the ultrasound image processing device furthercomprises a memory, and the processor is configured to acquire, from thememory, the ultrasound presentation collected and stored in advance.

In an embodiment, the ultrasound image processing device furthercomprises an ultrasound presentation collecting apparatus configured tocollect an ultrasound presentation, and the processor is configured toobtain the ultrasound presentation collected by the ultrasoundpresentation collecting apparatus.

In an embodiment, the ultrasound presentation collecting apparatuscomprises: a probe; a transmitting circuit configured to excite theprobe to transmit an ultrasound wave to the region of interest; and areceiving circuit configured to receive an echo of the ultrasound waveto obtain an echo signal, wherein the processor processes the echosignal to obtain the ultrasound presentation.

In an embodiment, the at least one region of interest comprises at leastone of an endocardium, a midmyocardium, and an epicardium.

In an embodiment, provided is an ultrasound image processing method,comprising: an ultrasound presentation is acquired, wherein theultrasound presentation comprises either one of an ultrasound image andan ultrasound video; motion tracking is performed on at least one regionof interest according to the ultrasound presentation to obtain atracking result of the at least one region of interest; a trackingquality of the tracking result of the at least one region of interest isdetermined; and the tracking quality of the at least one region ofinterest is displayed, wherein the tracking quality is the confidence ofa tracking result of a corresponding region of interest and indicatesthe credibility of the tracking result of the corresponding region ofinterest.

In an embodiment, the step that “a tracking quality of the trackingresult of the at least one region of interest is determined” comprises:the tracking qualities of a plurality of local sub-regions arerespectively determined according to the plurality of local sub-regionsformed by dividing the region of interest in advance.

In an embodiment, the step that “the tracking quality of the at leastone region of interest is displayed” comprises: tracking qualityindicators of the local sub-regions are generated according to thetracking qualities of the local sub-regions of the region of interest;in combination with an anatomical structure of the region of interestand the plurality of local sub-regions divided in advance, the trackingquality indicators of the plurality of local sub-regions of the regionof interest are arranged in an anatomical shape of the region ofinterest in the form of color coding; wherein the tracking qualityindicator of each local sub-region corresponds to a color coded block;and the tracking quality indicators arranged in the anatomical shape ofthe region of interest are displayed.

In an embodiment, the step that “the tracking quality of the at leastone region of interest is displayed” further comprises: a qualitystandard reference indicator is displayed, wherein the quality standardreference indicator is provided to determine tracking qualitiesindicated by the tracking quality indicators.

In an embodiment, the method further comprises a step: an analysisresult of a certain local sub-region to be deleted is discarded inresponse to an action of deleting the local sub-region by a user.

In an embodiment, the method further comprises a step: a prompt messageis generated to prompt the user whether to accept the tracking result;and if the user selects “Yes”, an analysis result is displayed.

In an embodiment, the anatomical shape formed by arranging the trackingquality indicators of the plurality of local sub-regions is a shape of acardiac segmented diagram and/or a shape of a bull's eye plot.

In an embodiment, the method further comprises a step: the parts of theanatomical shape corresponding to the selected local sub-regions arehighlighted in response to local sub-regions of a target region ofinterest selected by a user.

In an embodiment, the tracking result includes at least a quantitativeparameter of myocardial motion.

In an embodiment, the step that “an ultrasound presentation is acquired”comprises: an ultrasound presentation is collected and acquired in realtime by an ultrasound presentation collecting apparatus, or theultrasound presentation collected and stored in advance is acquired froma memory or other device.

In an embodiment, the at least one region of interest comprises at leastone of an endocardium, a midmyocardium, and an epicardium.

In an embodiment, provided is a computer-readable storage medium storinga plurality of program instructions, the plurality of programinstructions being configured to be invoked by a processor to executeany one of the methods described above.

According to the ultrasound image processing device, the method forquantitative analysis of cardiac motion and the computer-readablestorage medium of the disclosure, quantified confidence is provided toindicate whether a tracking result is credible or not, so that the usercan determine more accurately whether the tracking result is qualifiedor unqualified according to other factors, and further, the trackingqualities may be illustrated vividly and displayed more visuallyaccording to the anatomical structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of thedisclosure more clearly, a brief introduction to the drawings requiredfor the embodiments will be provided below. Obviously, the drawings inthe following description are merely some of the embodiments of thedisclosure, and those of ordinary skill in the art would also obtainother drawings according to these drawings without involving anyinventive effort.

FIG. 1 is a structural block diagram of an ultrasound image processingdevice in an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasound presentationcollecting apparatus in an ultrasound image processing device in anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a tracking determination interface inan embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an analysis result interface in anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a bull's eye plot display interface inan embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a health prompt interface in anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of a method for quantitative analysis of cardiacmotion in an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a sub-flow chart of step S703 in FIG. 7 in an embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the disclosure will bedescribed below clearly and comprehensively in conjunction with thedrawings of the embodiments of the disclosure. Obviously, theembodiments described are merely some, rather than all, of theembodiments of the disclosure. Based on the embodiments given in thedisclosure, all other embodiments that would be obtained by those ofordinary skill in the art without involving any inventive effort shallall fall within the scope of protection of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, a structural block diagram of an ultrasound imageprocessing device 100 in an embodiment of the disclosure is shown. Theultrasound image processing device 100 comprises a display 10 and aprocessor 20. The processor 20 is configured to acquire an ultrasoundpresentation, and the ultrasound presentation includes either one of anultrasound image and an ultrasound video. The ultrasound presentation isobtained by performing ultrasound scanning on at least one region ofinterest.

The processor 20 is also configured to perform motion tracking, throughspeckle tracking, on at least one region of interest in a heartaccording to the ultrasound presentation to obtain a tracking result ofthe at least one region of interest, and a tracking quality of thetracking result of the at least one region of interest is determined.

The processor 20 is further configured to control the display 10 todisplay the tracking quality of the at least one region of interestafter the tracking is completed, wherein the tracking quality is theconfidence of a tracking result of a corresponding region of interest,indicating the credibility of the tracking result of the correspondingregion of interest.

That is, the tracking quality shows the quantified credibility of thetracking result, for example, the credibility is eighty percent, etc.

Therefore, in the application, what is used to reflect the quality ofthe tracking result is the confidence of the tracking result, not just asimple qualified or unqualified determination result, so that a user candetermine more accurately whether the tracking result is qualified orunqualified according to other factors.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasound image processing device 100 furthercomprises an ultrasound presentation collecting apparatus 30, and theultrasound presentation collecting apparatus 30 is configured to collectan ultrasound presentation. The processor 20 is connected to theultrasound presentation collecting apparatus 30. In some embodiments,the ultrasound presentation acquired by the processor 20 is theultrasound presentation collected by the ultrasound presentationcollecting apparatus 30.

Referring also to FIG. 2, a schematic structural diagram of theultrasound presentation collecting apparatus 30 is shown. As shown inFIG. 2, the ultrasound presentation collecting apparatus 30 comprises aprobe 31, a transmitting circuit 32 and a receiving circuit 33. Thetransmitting circuit 32 is configured to excite the probe 31 to transmitan ultrasound wave to at least one region of interest in a heart. Thereceiving circuit 33 is configured to receive an echo of the ultrasoundwave to obtain an echo signal. The echo signal may be sent to theprocessor 20, and the processor 20 may process the echo signal to obtainthe ultrasound presentation.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasound image processing device 100 furthercomprises a memory 40, and the ultrasound presentation is stored in thememory 40. The processor 20 is also connected to the memory 40, and insome embodiments, the processor 20 obtains the ultrasound presentationfrom the memory 40. Obviously, in other embodiments, the processor 20may also be connected to other devices so as to obtain the ultrasoundpresentation from other devices. For example, the processor 20 may alsobe in communication connection with a server to download a desiredultrasound presentation from the server.

The process in which the processor 20 determines the tracking quality ofthe tracking result of the at least one region of interest comprises:the processor 20 determines the tracking quality of each localsub-region of each region of interest according to a plurality of localsub-regions formed by dividing each region of interest in advance.

Referring also to FIG. 3, a schematic diagram of a trackingdetermination interface J1 displaying tracking quality is shown. Thetracking quality of the at least one region of interest comprises atracking quality indicator G1 of a local sub-region of each region and aquality standard reference indicator S1. The process in which theprocessor 20 controls the display 10 to display the tracking quality ofthe at least one region of interest after the tracking is completedcomprises: the processor 20 generates the tracking quality indicator G1of each local sub-region according to the tracking quality of each localsub-region of each region of interest, and in combination with a cardiacanatomical structure of each region of interest and the plurality oflocal sub-regions divided in advance, the tracking quality indicators G1of the plurality of local sub-regions of each region of interest arearranged in an anatomical shape of the region of interest in the form ofcolor coding, wherein the tracking quality indicator G1 of each localsub-region corresponds to a color coded block K1; and the processor 20also controls the display 10 to display the tracking quality indicatorsG1 arranged in the anatomical shape of the region of interest, andcontrols the display 10 to display the quality standard referenceindicator S1, and the quality standard reference indicator S1 isprovided to determine the tracking qualities indicated by the trackingquality indicators.

In an embodiment, the anatomical shape formed by arranging the trackingquality indicators of the plurality of local sub-regions may be a shapeof a cardiac segmented diagram (as shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 4, or FIG. 6)and/or a shape of a bull's eye plot (as shown in FIG. 5).

As shown in FIG. 3, more specifically, the process in which theprocessor 20 controls the display 10 to display the tracking quality ofthe at least one region of interest after the tracking is completedcomprises: the display 10 is controlled to display the trackingdetermination interface J1 after the tracking is completed, wherein thetracking determination interface J1 comprises an ultrasound presentationplayback zone Z1 and a tracking quality display zone Z2; the processorcontrols the ultrasound presentation to be displayed in the ultrasoundpresentation playback zone Z1 of the tracking determination interfaceJ1; and the processor controls the tracking quality Q1 of the at leastone region of interest to be displayed in the tracking quality displayzone Z2 of the tracking determination interface J1.

The tracking determination interface J1 schematically shown in FIG. 3displays the tracking quality of a region of interest, the ultrasoundpresentation playback zone Z1 is located in a middle position of thetracking determination interface J1, and the tracking quality displayzone Z2 is located in a lower right corner region of the trackingdetermination interface J1.

The processor 20 also controls the addition of a corresponding marker B1to the ultrasound presentation displayed in the ultrasound presentationplayback zone Z1 according to the position and shape of the selectedregion of interest. For example, the marker B1 is a plurality of whitescattered points distributed in an arched shape as shown in FIG. 3, andthe distribution of the plurality of scattered points indicates theposition and shape of the region of interest.

The tracking quality Q1 comprises tracking quality indicators G1 of aplurality of local sub-regions arranged in the anatomical shape of theregion of interest in the form of color coding, and the quality standardreference indicator S1. Each local sub-region is associated with acorresponding tracking quality indicator G1 and a corresponding colorcoded block K1.

As shown in FIG. 3, in some embodiments, the tracking quality indicatorG1 for each local sub-region is a contour line surrounding thecorresponding color coded block K1, the contour line has a particularcolor, and the color of the contour line is different in shade when thelocal sub-regions have different tracking qualities. The qualitystandard reference indicator S1 displays the same color as the contourline, with the shades of the colors arranged in sequence andcorresponding to different degrees of confidence. For example, as shownin FIG. 3, the quality standard reference indicator S1 corresponds tothe degrees of confidence 0-100 respectively based on color changes fromlight to dark. Since the colors and shades of colors required by thedrawings of the application document cannot be displayed moreaccurately, the drawings of the application are merely used as areference and are specifically subject to the description.

The processor 20 displays the contour line having the correspondingshade of the color around the corresponding color coded block K1according to the determined tracking quality of each local sub-region.

Thus, the user can determine the tracking quality, that is, theconfidence, of the local sub-region corresponding to the color codedblock K1 according to the shade of the color of the contour line of thecolor coded block K1 versus the quality standard reference indicator S1.For example, when the shade of the color of the contour line of acertain color coded block K1 is the same as the shade at a position 80of the quality standard reference indicator S1, it can be determinedthat the confidence of the local sub-region corresponding to the colorcoded block K1 is 80%. That is, the credibility of the tracking resultof the corresponding local sub-region is 80%.

Furthermore, each color coded block K1 has a different color todistinguish different local sub-regions.

In other embodiments, the tracking quality indicator G1 may be a texturepattern filled in the color coded block K1. The quality standardreference indicator S1 comprises a plurality of texture patterns, anddifferent texture patterns correspond to different degrees ofconfidence.

The processor 20 displays the corresponding texture pattern in thecorresponding color coded block K1 according to the determined trackingquality of each local sub-region.

Thus, the user can determine the tracking quality, that is, theconfidence, of the local sub-region corresponding to the color codedblock K1 according to the texture pattern in the color coded block K1versus the quality standard reference indicator S1.

In other embodiments, the tracking quality indicator G1 may be the shadeof the color of the color coded block K1. The quality standard referenceindicator S1 comprises the relationship between the shade of the colorand the confidence for each of a plurality of color coded block K1.

The processor 20 changes accordingly in controlling the shade of thecolor of the corresponding color coded block K1 according to thedetermined tracking quality of each local sub-region. Thus, the user candetermine the tracking quality of the local sub-region corresponding tothe color coded block K1 according to the shade of the color of thecolor coded block K1 versus the quality standard reference indicator S1.

The ultrasound presentation displayed in the ultrasound presentationplayback zone Z1 of the tracking determination interface J1 in FIG. 3 isassociated with the tracking quality Q1 displayed in the trackingquality display zone Z2, and the tracking quality Q1 changes as apicture of the ultrasound presentation changes, so that the displayedtracking quality Q1 is the tracking quality Q1 of the region of interestcorresponding to the current picture of the ultrasound presentation.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasound image processing device furthercomprises an input unit 50, and the processor 20 is further configuredto discard an analysis result of one or more local sub-regions inresponse to an action of deleting the local sub-region that is inputtedby the user through the input unit 50.

In some embodiments, the processor 20 is further configured to controlthe display 10 to generate a prompt message to prompt the user whetherto accept this tracking result; if the user selects “Yes”, the display10 is controlled to display all analysis results.

Specifically, the process in which the processor 20 controls the allanalysis results to be displayed on the display 10 comprises: thedisplay 10 is controlled to display an analysis result interface and abull's eye plot display interface simultaneously or alternately.

Referring also to FIG. 4, a schematic diagram of an analysis resultinterface J2 is shown. As shown in FIG. 4, the analysis result interfaceJ2 comprises an ultrasound presentation playback zone Z21, an analysiscurve display zone Z23 and a tracking quality display zone Z22, whereinthe analysis curve display zone Z23 is configured to display a trackingresult curve X1 of each local sub-region of the at least one region ofinterest; the ultrasound presentation playback zone Z21 of the analysisresult interface is configured to display an ultrasound presentation;and the tracking quality display zone Z22 of the analysis resultinterface J2 is configured to display the tracking quality of the atleast one region of interest.

In contrast to FIG. 3, the analysis result interface J2 displayed afterthe user selects to accept the analysis results will additionallydisplay the tracking result curve X1 of each local sub-region.

The analysis curve display zone Z23 may be located at a lower leftcorner of the analysis result interface J2.

The ultrasound presentation playback zone Z21 and the tracking qualitydisplay zone Z23 in the analysis result interface J2 are the same as theultrasound presentation playback zone Z1 and the tracking qualitydisplay zone Z2 in the tracking determination interface J1, andparticular reference to the relevant descriptions of the ultrasoundpresentation playback zone Z1 and the tracking quality display zone Z2in the tracking determination interface J1 are not repeated herein.

Likewise, the ultrasound presentation displayed in the ultrasoundpresentation playback zone Z21 of the analysis result interface J2 inFIG. 4 is associated in real time with the tracking quality Q1 displayedin the tracking quality display zone Z22 and the tracking result curveX1 displayed in the analysis curve display zone Z23, and the trackingquality Q1 and the tracking result curve X1 change as the picture of thedisplayed ultrasound presentation changes, so that the displayedtracking quality Q1 and the tracking result curve X1 are the trackingquality Q1 and the tracking result curve X1 of the region of interestcorresponding to the current picture of the ultrasound presentation.

Referring also to FIG. 5, a schematic diagram of a bull's eye plotdisplay interface J3 is shown. The bull's eye plot display interface J3comprises a tracking result bull's eye plot display zone Z31, a trackingquality bull's eye plot display zone Z32 and a tracking time bull's eyeplot display zone Z33, wherein the tracking result bull's eye plotdisplay zone Z31 is configured to display a tracking result bull's eyeplot T1 of at least one region of interest, the tracking quality bull'seye plot display zone Z32 is configured to display a tracking qualitybull's eye plot T2 of at least one region of interest, and the trackingquality bull's eye plot display zone Z32 is configured to display atracking time bull's eye plot T3 of at least one region of interest.

The tracking result bull's eye plot T1, the tracking quality bull's eyeplot T2 and the tracking time bull's eye plot T2 corresponding to the atleast one region of interest are simultaneously or alternatelydisplayed.

Each tracking result bull's eye plot T1 is composed of a peak value of atracking result of at least one local sub-region of tangent planes ofthe corresponding region of interest in a plurality of directions by theprocessor 20, each tracking quality bull's eye plot T2 is composed of atracking quality of the peak value of the tracking result of at leastone local sub-region of the tangent planes of the corresponding regionof interest in a plurality of directions by the processor 20, and eachtracking time bull's eye plot T3 is composed of the time at which thetracking result of at least one local sub-region of the tangent planesof the corresponding region of interest in a plurality of directionsreaches the peak value by the processor 20.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the tracking result bull's eye plot T1comprises a circular bull's eye plot composed of a result data block K2formed by arranging, in a first preset direction D1, peak values of thetracking results of a plurality of local sub-regions of the tangentplane in a first direction, a result data block K2 formed by arranging,in a second preset direction D2, peak values of the tracking results ofa plurality of local sub-regions of the tangent plane in a seconddirection, and a result data block K2 formed by arranging, in a thirdpreset direction D3, peak values of the tracking results of a pluralityof local sub-regions of the tangent plane in a third direction.

The tracking quality bull's eye plot T1 comprises a circular bull's eyeplot K3 composed of a quality data block K3 formed by arranging, in thefirst preset direction, tracking qualities of the peak values of thetracking results of the plurality of local sub-regions of the tangentplane in the first direction, a data block K3 formed by arranging, inthe second preset direction, tracking qualities of the peak values ofthe tracking results of the plurality of local sub-regions of thetangent plane in the second direction, and a data block formed byarranging, in the third preset direction, tracking qualities of the peakvalues of the tracking results of the plurality of local sub-regions ofthe tangent plane in the third direction.

The tracking time bull's eye plot T1 comprises a circular bull's eyeplot K3 composed of a time data block K4 formed by arranging, in thefirst preset direction, time points when the tracking results of theplurality of local sub-regions of the tangent plane in the firstdirection reach the peak values, a time data block K4 formed byarranging, in the second preset direction, time points when the trackingresults of the plurality of local sub-regions of the tangent plane inthe second direction reach the peak values, and a time data block K4formed by arranging, in the first preset direction, time points when thetracking results of the plurality of local sub-regions of the tangentplane in the third direction reach the peak values.

Therefore, in the form of the bull's eye plots, the peak values of thetracking results of the local sub-regions of the tangent planes in theplurality of directions, the qualities of the peak values of thetracking results and the time points when the tracking results reach thepeak values can be visually and simultaneously illustrated.

The processor 20 is further configured to highlight the partscorresponding to local sub-regions of a target region of interest in thebull's eye plot in response to the local sub-regions of the targetregion of interest selected by the user.

For example, if the user wants to pay close attention to a certain localsub-region of a certain region of interest, the processor 20 can controlthe data blocks corresponding to the local sub-region in the trackingresult bull's eye plot T1, the tracking quality bull's eye plot T2, andthe tracking time bull's eye plot T3 for highlighting, by implementingthe selection of the concerned local sub-region. For example,highlighting or displaying in different colors is performed.

The at least one region of interest comprises at least one of anendocardium, a midmyocardium, and an epicardium. The local sub-regionsdivided in advance are various regions divided according to functionaltissues of the region of interest or user-defined regions selected bythe user.

When the region of interest is the midmyocardium, the local sub-regionsdivided in advance are myocardial segments of the midmyocardium that aredefined according to industry standards.

In some embodiments, the at least one region of interest comprises amidmyocardium, the midmyocardium comprises a plurality of myocardialsegments, and at least one myocardial segment corresponds to a perfusionregion of a coronary artery branch respectively; the processor 20 isfurther configured to highlight the parts corresponding to one or moremyocardial segments in the tracking result bull's eye plot T1, thetracking quality bull's eye plot T2, and the tracking time bull's eyeplot T3 corresponding to the midmyocardium according to a user selectionor automatically; and the one or more myocardial segments correspond toperfusion regions of one or more designated coronary artery branches.

Referring also to FIG. 6, it is a schematic diagram of a health promptinterface J4 shown when the region of interest is the midmyocardium. Insome embodiments, the processor 20 is further configured to provide thehealth prompt interface J4. For example, the processor 20 provides thehealth prompt interface J4 when the region of interest selected by theuser is the midmyocardium and it is found that the coronary arterybranches reflected by the myocardial segments of the midmyocardium havea health problem.

The health prompt interface J4 comprises a simulated heart icon 61, aplurality of physical simulated indication icons 62, a plurality ofsimplified indication icons 63, and a plurality of reference icons 64.

The simulated heart icon 61 simulates an overall structure of the heart.The plurality of physical simulated indication icons 62 are configuredto illustrate the distribution of the myocardial segments in the sameform as a distribution structure of the midmyocardium of the heart.

The plurality of simplified indication icons 63 illustrate thedistribution of the myocardial segments in a simplified manner. As shownin FIG. 6, different myocardial segments are distinguished using colorcoded blocks K1 having different texture patterns.

The plurality of reference icons 64 illustrate coronary artery brancheswith their texture patterns corresponding to the myocardial segments, sothat the user can determine, by reference, which coronary artery brancha myocardial segment having a certain texture pattern corresponds to.

The color coded block K1 corresponding to each myocardial segment isdisplayed in an arrangement shape consistent with the myocardialsegment. The processor 20 may control the color coded block K1corresponding to a certain myocardial segment to be highlighted when atracking result of the myocardial segment shows that the correspondingcoronary artery perfusion region could be diseased or has a poorfunction.

The tracking result of the application includes at least a quantitativeparameter of myocardial motion.

The display 10 may be a built-in display or an external display of theultrasound image processing device 100, such as an LCD display, an OLEDdisplay, a television, a mobile phone with a display screen, and atablet computer. The processor 20 may be a central processor, a digitalsignal processor, a single chip microcomputer, a microprocessor, amicrocontroller, etc. The memory 40 may be a flash memory card, a harddisk, an optical disk, etc. The input unit 50 may be a mouse, a touchscreen, a touch pad, etc.

In the application, the confidence of the tracking results may beobjectively reflected through the quantified tracking qualities. Inaddition, the tracking qualities may be illustrated vividly anddisplayed more visually according to the anatomical structure.

Referring to FIG. 7, a flow chart of a method for quantitative analysisof cardiac motion in an embodiment of the disclosure is shown. Theexecution sequence of the steps of the flow chart in FIG. 7 may beoptionally changed as required. The method for quantitative analysis ofcardiac motion may be applied to the ultrasound image processing device100, and for the hardware support for the steps of the method forquantitative analysis of cardiac motion, reference is made to thedescription of the ultrasound image processing device 100. As shown inFIG. 7, the method comprises the following steps.

An ultrasound presentation is acquired, wherein the ultrasoundpresentation comprises either one of an ultrasound image and anultrasound video (S701). The step of acquiring the ultrasoundpresentation comprises: an ultrasound presentation is collected andacquired in real time by an ultrasound image processing device, or theultrasound presentation collected and stored in advance is acquired froma memory or other device. Also, the ultrasound presentation is obtainedby performing ultrasound scanning on at least one region of interest.

Motion tracking is performed, through speckle tracking, on at least oneregion of interest in a heart according to the ultrasound presentationto obtain a tracking result of the at least one region of interest(S702).

The tracking quality of the tracking result of the at least one regionof interest is determined (S703). Specifically, the step S703 comprises:the tracking quality of each local sub-region of each region of interestis determined according to a plurality of local sub-regions formed bydividing each region of interest in advance.

After the tracking is completed, the tracking quality of the at leastone region of interest is displayed, wherein the tracking quality is theconfidence of a tracking result of a corresponding region of interest,indicating the credibility of the tracking result of the correspondingregion of interest (S704).

Accordingly, in the application, what is determined and displayedaccording to the tracking result is the confidence of the trackingresult, not just a simple qualified or unqualified determination result,so that the user can determine more accurately whether the trackingresult is qualified or unqualified according to other factors.

As shown in FIG. 7, in some embodiments, the method further comprises astep: an analysis result of a certain local sub-region is discarded inresponse to an action of deleting the local sub-region by the user(S705).

As shown in FIG. 7, in some embodiments, the method further comprises astep: a prompt message is generated to prompt the user whether to acceptthe tracking result (S706).

If the user selects “Yes”, all analysis results are controlled to bedisplayed (S707). If not, step S701 is repeated or the flow ends. Insome embodiments, the step that “all analysis results are controlled tobe displayed” comprises: an analysis result interface and a bull's eyeplot display interface are controlled to be displayed simultaneously oralternately.

The analysis result interface comprises an ultrasound presentationplayback zone, an analysis curve display zone and a tracking qualitydisplay zone, wherein the analysis curve display zone is configured todisplay a result curve of each local sub-region of the at least oneregion of interest; the ultrasound presentation playback zone of theanalysis result interface is configured to display an ultrasoundpresentation; and the tracking quality display zone of the analysisresult interface is configured to display the tracking quality of the atleast one region of interest.

The bull's eye plot display interface comprises a tracking result bull'seye plot display zone, a tracking quality bull's eye plot display zoneand a tracking time bull's eye plot display zone, wherein the trackingresult bull's eye plot display zone is configured to display a trackingresult bull's eye plot of at least one region of interest, the trackingquality bull's eye plot is configured to display a tracking qualitybull's eye plot of at least one region of interest, and the trackingtime bull's eye plot is configured to display a tracking time bull's eyeplot of at least one region of interest.

In some embodiments, the tracking result bull's eye plot, the trackingquality bull's eye plot and the tracking time bull's eye plotcorresponding to the at least one region of interest are simultaneouslyor alternately displayed.

Each tracking result bull's eye plot is composed of a peak value of atracking result of at least one local sub-region of tangent planes ofthe corresponding region of interest in a plurality of directions, eachtracking quality bull's eye plot is composed of a tracking quality ofthe peak value of the tracking result of at least one local sub-regionof the tangent planes of the corresponding region of interest in aplurality of directions, and each tracking time bull's eye plot iscomposed of the time at which the tracking result of at least one localsub-region of the tangent planes of the corresponding region of interestin a plurality of directions reaches the peak value.

For a detailed introduction of the analysis result interface, the bull'seye plot display interface, the tracking result bull's eye plot, thetracking quality bull's eye plot, and the tracking time bull's eye plot,reference is made to the foregoing description, which will not bedescribed in detail herein.

As shown in FIG. 7, in some embodiments, the method further comprises astep: the parts corresponding to local sub-regions of a target region ofinterest in the bull's eye plot are highlighted in response to the localsub-regions of the target region of interest selected by the user(S708).

In some embodiments, the at least one region of interest comprises amidmyocardium, the midmyocardium comprises a plurality of myocardialsegments, and at least one myocardial segment corresponds to a perfusionregion of a coronary artery branch respectively. The method furthercomprises a step: the parts corresponding to one or more myocardialsegments in the bull's eye plots corresponding to the midmyocardium arehighlighted according to the user selection or automatically, the one ormore myocardial segments corresponding to perfusion regions of one ormore designated coronary artery branches.

In some embodiments, the at least one region of interest comprises atleast one of an endocardium, a midmyocardium, and an epicardium. Thelocal sub-regions divided in advance are various regions dividedaccording to functional tissues of the region of interest oruser-defined regions selected by the user.

In some embodiments, when the region of interest is the midmyocardium,the local sub-regions divided in advance are myocardial segments of themidmyocardium that are defined according to industry standards.

Referring to FIG. 8, a sub-flow chart of step S703 in some embodimentsis shown. As shown in FIG. 8, the step S703 comprises the followingsteps.

A tracking quality indicator of each local sub-region is generatedaccording to a tracking quality of each local sub-region of each regionof interest (S7031).

In combination with a cardiac anatomical structure of each region ofinterest and the plurality of local sub-regions divided in advance, thetracking quality indicators of the plurality of local sub-regions ofeach region of interest are arranged in an anatomical shape of theregion of interest in the form of color coding, wherein the trackingquality indicator of each local sub-region corresponds to a color codedblock (S7033).

The tracking quality indicators arranged in the anatomical shape of theregion of interest are controlled to be displayed (S7035). In addition,

a quality standard reference indicator is controlled to be displayed,wherein the quality standard reference indicator is provided todetermine tracking qualities indicated by the tracking qualityindicators (S7036).

In some embodiments, the step S703 may further comprise: a trackingdetermination interface is displayed after the tracking is completed,wherein the tracking determination interface comprises an ultrasoundpresentation playback zone and a tracking quality display zone; theultrasound presentation is displayed in the ultrasound presentationplayback zone of the tracking determination interface; and the trackingquality of the at least one region of interest is displayed in thetracking quality display zone of the tracking determination interface.

In some embodiments, the application also provides a computer-readablestorage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores a pluralityof program instructions to be invoked for execution by the processor 20.The computer-readable storage medium may be the memory 40.

After a plurality of program instructions stored in the memory40/computer-readable storage medium are invoked for execution by theprocessor 20, some or all of the steps of the method illustrated ineither one of FIGS. 7 and 8, or any combination thereof may be executed.

Therefore, by providing the confidence of the tracking results, theapplication may allow the user to know the credibility of the trackingresults and analyze more accurately whether the tracking results arequalified or unqualified according to other factors, and the applicationmay also more visually display the tracking qualities with correspondingshapes according to the structural shape of the region of interest.

The description has been made with reference to various exemplaryembodiments herein. However, those skilled in the art would haveappreciated that changes and modifications could have been made to theexemplary embodiments without departing from the scope herein. Forexample, various operation steps and assemblies for executing operationsteps may be implemented in different ways according to a specificapplication or considering any number of cost functions associated withthe operation of the system (for example, one or more steps may bedeleted, modified or incorporated into other steps).

In addition, as understood by those skilled in the art, the principlesherein may be reflected in a computer program product on acomputer-readable storage medium that is pre-installed withcomputer-readable program codes. Any tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium can be used, including magnetic storagedevices (hard disks, floppy disks, etc.), optical storage devices(CD-ROM, DVD, Blu Ray disks, etc.), flash memories, and/or the like.These computer program instructions can be loaded onto a general-purposecomputer, a dedicated computer, or other programmable data processingdevice to form a machine, such that these instructions executed on acomputer or other programmable data processing apparatus can generate anapparatus that implements a specified function. These computer programinstructions can also be stored in a computer-readable memory that caninstruct a computer or other programmable data processing device tooperate in a specific manner, such that the instructions stored in thecomputer-readable memory can form a manufactured product, including animplementation apparatus that implements a specified function. Thecomputer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing device, such that a series ofoperating steps are executed on the computer or other programmabledevice to produce a computer-implemented process, such that theinstructions executed on the computer or other programmable device canprovide steps for implementing a specified function.

Although the principles herein have been shown in various embodiments,many modifications of structures, arrangements, ratios, elements,materials, and components that are particularly suitable for specificenvironments and operating requirements can be made without departingfrom the principles and scope of the disclosure. The above modificationsand other changes or amendments will be included within the scopeherein.

The above specific description has been described with reference tovarious embodiments. However, those skilled in the art would haveappreciated that various modifications and changes could have been madewithout departing from the scope of the disclosure. Therefore,consideration of the disclosure will be in an illustrative rather than arestrictive sense, and all such modifications will be included withinthe scope thereof. Likewise, the advantages of various embodiments,other advantages, and the solutions to problems have been describedabove. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and anyelements that can produce these, or solutions that make them moreexplicit, should not be interpreted as critical, necessary, oressential. The term “comprising” and any other variants thereof usedherein are non-exclusive, such that the process, method, document, ordevice that includes a list of elements includes not only theseelements, but also other elements that are not explicitly listed or donot belong to the process, method, system, document, or device.Furthermore, the term “coupling” and any other variations thereof usedherein refer to physical connection, electrical connection, magneticconnection, optical connection, communication connection, functionalconnection, and/or any other connection.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that many changes can be made tothe details of the above-described embodiments without departing fromthe basic principles of the disclosure. Therefore, the scope of thedisclosure should be determined only by the claims as follows.

1. ultrasound image processing device, comprising: a display; and aprocessor configured to: obtain an ultrasound presentation, wherein theultrasound presentation comprises one of an ultrasound image and anultrasound video; perform a motion tracking on at least one region ofinterest according to the ultrasound presentation to obtain a trackingresult of the at least one region of interest; determine a trackingquality of the tracking result of the at least one region of interest;and control the display to display the tracking quality of the at leastone region of interest, wherein the tracking quality is a confidence ofthe tracking result of the corresponding region of interest andindicates a credibility of the tracking result of the correspondingregion of interest.
 2. The ultrasound image processing device of claim1, wherein determining the tracking quality of the tracking result ofthe at least one region of interest comprises: respectively determiningtracking qualities of local sub-regions according to the localsub-regions formed by dividing the region of interest.
 3. The ultrasoundimage processing device of claim 2, wherein controlling the display todisplay the tracking quality of the at least one region of interestcomprises: generating tracking quality indicators of the localsub-regions according to the tracking qualities of the local sub-regionsof the region of interest; arranging the tracking quality indicators ofthe local sub-regions of the region of interest in an anatomical shapeof the region of interest in a form of color coding according to ananatomical structure of the region of interest and the localsub-regions, wherein a tracking quality indicator of each localsub-region corresponds to a color coded block; and controlling thedisplay to display the tracking quality indicators arranged in theanatomical shape of the region of interest.
 4. The ultrasound imageprocessing device of claim 2, wherein controlling the display to displaythe tracking quality of the at least one region of interest furthercomprises: controlling the display to display a quality standardreference indicator, wherein the quality standard reference indicator isused for determining the tracking qualities indicated by trackingquality indicators.
 5. The ultrasound image processing device of claim2, further comprising an input unit, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to, in response to an action of deleting one or more localsub-regions that is input by a user through the input unit, discard ananalysis result of the deleted one or more local sub-regions.
 6. Theultrasound image processing device of claim 1, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: control the display to generate a prompt messageto prompt a user whether to accept the tracking result; and control thedisplay to display an analysis result when the user accepts the trackingresult.
 7. The ultrasound image processing device of claim 3, whereinthe anatomical shape formed by arranging the tracking quality indicatorsof the local sub-regions is a shape of a cardiac segmented diagramand/or a shape of a bull's eye plot.
 8. The ultrasound image processingdevice of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to: inresponse to a selection to the local sub-regions of the region ofinterest by a user, highlight a part of the anatomical shapecorresponding to the selected local sub-region.
 9. The ultrasound imageprocessing device of claim 1, wherein the tracking result comprises atleast a quantitative parameter of myocardial motion.
 10. The ultrasoundimage processing device of claim 1, further comprising a memory, whereinthe processor is configured to obtain, from the memory, the ultrasoundpresentation that is collected and stored in advance.
 11. The ultrasoundimage processing device of any one of claim 1, further comprising anultrasound presentation collecting apparatus configured to collect theultrasound presentation, wherein the processor is configured to obtainthe ultrasound presentation collected by the ultrasound presentationcollecting apparatus.
 12. The ultrasound image processing device ofclaim 11, wherein the ultrasound presentation collecting apparatuscomprises: a probe; a transmitting circuit configured to excite theprobe to transmit an ultrasound wave to the region of interest; and areceiving circuit configured to receive echoes of the ultrasound wave toobtain echo signals; wherein the processor is configured to process theecho signals to obtain the ultrasound presentation.
 13. The ultrasoundimage processing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one region ofinterest comprises at least one of an endocardium, a midmyocardium, andan epicardium.
 14. An ultrasound image processing method, comprising:obtaining an ultrasound presentation, wherein the ultrasoundpresentation comprises one of an ultrasound image and an ultrasoundvideo; performing a motion tracking on at least one region of interestaccording to the ultrasound presentation to obtain a tracking result ofthe at least one region of interest; determining a tracking quality ofthe tracking result of the at least one region of interest; anddisplaying the tracking quality of the at least one region of interest,wherein the tracking quality is a confidence of the tracking result ofthe corresponding region of interest and indicates a credibility of thetracking result of the corresponding region of interest.
 15. Theultrasound image processing method of claim 14, wherein determining thetracking quality of the tracking result of the at least one region ofinterest comprises: respectively determining tracking qualities of localsub-regions according to the local sub-regions formed by dividing theregion of interest.
 16. The ultrasound image processing method of claim15, wherein displaying the tracking quality of the at least one regionof interest comprises: generating tracking quality indicators of thelocal sub-regions according to the tracking qualities of the localsub-regions of the region of interest; arranging the tracking qualityindicators of the local sub-regions of the region of interest in ananatomical shape of the region of interest in a form of color codingaccording to an anatomical structure of the region of interest and thelocal sub-regions, wherein a tracking quality indicator of each localsub-region corresponds to a color coded block; and displaying thetracking quality indicators arranged in the anatomical shape of theregion of interest.
 17. The ultrasound image processing method of claim16, wherein displaying the tracking quality of the at least one regionof interest further comprises: displaying a quality standard referenceindicator, wherein the quality standard reference indicator is used fordetermining the tracking qualities indicated by tracking qualityindicators.
 18. The ultrasound image processing method of claim 15,further comprising: in response to an action of deleting one or morelocal sub-regions by a user, discarding an analysis result of thedeleted local sub-region.
 19. The ultrasound image processing method ofclaim 14, further comprising: generating a prompt message to prompt auser whether to accept the tracking result; and displaying an analysisresult when the user accepts the tracking result. 20-24. (canceled) 25.A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a plurality ofprogram instructions, the plurality of program instructions beingexecuted by a processor to cause the processor to: obtain an ultrasoundpresentation, wherein the ultrasound presentation comprises one of anultrasound image and an ultrasound video; perform a motion tracking onat least one region of interest according to the ultrasound presentationto obtain a tracking result of the at least one region of interest;determine a tracking quality of the tracking result of the at least oneregion of interest; and control the display to display the trackingquality of the at least one region of interest, wherein the trackingquality is a confidence of the tracking result of the correspondingregion of interest and indicates a credibility of the tracking result ofthe corresponding region of interest.